1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording method and an ink jet recording apparatus used in the method.
2. Related Art
Radiation-curable inks that can be cured by being irradiated with UV rays, electron beams, or other radiation are being developed. These radiation-curable inks are used for recording on ink-non-absorbent recording media that do not absorb or hardly absorb ink, such as plastic or glass media and coated paper, because radiation-curable ink compositions can be dried quickly. For example, a radiation-curable ink contains a polymerizable monomer, a polymerization initiator, a pigment, and other additives.
It is known that such a radiation-curable ink can be used to form an image by ejecting droplets of the ink onto a recording medium from an ink jet recording apparatus, and irradiating the droplets with active radiation to cure the ink.
For example, JP-A-2007-276248 discloses a method in which inks are deposited by an ink jet recording apparatus including a single head and active energy beam irradiation devices at both sides of the head, and are then irradiated with active energy beams in order of ease of curing.
Japanese Patent No. 4147943 discloses a method in which an ink is ejected onto a recording medium from an ink jet recording apparatus including a head and irradiation devices at both sides of the head, and is then irradiated with active radiation. In this method, the irradiation energy of the active radiation first irradiated is adjusted so that the ink can be cured to a predetermined degree.
JP-A-2008-73916 and JP-A-2009-56695 each disclose an ink jet recording apparatus including a plurality of recording heads and light sources each disposed between adjacent recording heads.
However, in the method disclosed in JP-A-2007-276248, if printing is performed with a plurality of irradiation-curable ink compositions that are cured at different irradiation energies, the printing speed may be reduced to the extent that it is considered to be unacceptable in practical use.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4147943, even when a plurality of irradiation-curable ink compositions that are cured at different irradiation energies are used for printing, all the ink compositions are irradiated at the same energy. Accordingly, the resulting image on a recording medium may be unsatisfactory in glossiness or color density, or bleeding may occur in the image.
JP-A-2008-73916 and JP-A-2009-56695 do not disclose the irradiation energy or the irradiation timing at which the inks from the plurality of heads are first irradiated. Consequently, the resulting image on a recording medium may be unsatisfactory in glossiness or color density, or bleeding may occur in the image.